


Speed Bump

by SheWhoWalksUnseen



Series: Desperate For Changing, Starving For Truth [3]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Coldflash Exchange 2018, Flirting, M/M, Mentions of Background Characters, Minor Lisa/Shawna, Shameless Additions of Other Rogues to the S.T.A.R. Labs Team Because I Said So, So much flirting, Team Flash as Villains and The Rogues as Heroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-05-30 15:54:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15100073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SheWhoWalksUnseen/pseuds/SheWhoWalksUnseen
Summary: When it came down to it, Barry seemed to take pride in making his life difficult.





	Speed Bump

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pastell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastell/gifts).



> Written for the Coldflash Exchange for pastell! You had so many good prompts but this one itched at me until I realized I couldn’t NOT write it. This was based on the prompt: "Some kind of switched roles AU with Len and his rogues as the heroes and Barry and co. as the villains of Central City", which I went a little overboard with world-building. Oops. 
> 
> Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy!

The door to his apartment was unlocked.

Len tested the handle and frowned as it turned smoothly. The key in his other hand felt like an anchor, weighing down his arm as he slowly pocketed it.

Mick had told him he would be out until late tonight. Supposedly, Axel wanted his opinion on some new tech he and Hartley were working on – something about being able to focus those visions that had been plaguing him as of late. Since Wells’ disappearance left Hartley the sole inheritor of the discredited S.T.A.R. Labs (nice guy, that Wells), the kid had taken to running the facility day-and-night, usually with Axel staying up too if things got bad at home (speaking of which, he really needed to have words with them about running yourself into the ground, maybe talk to Lisa and Mick about dragging them kicking and screaming to their apartments when they left after patrol tomorrow night). 

Despite Hartley's snobbishness and Axel’s tendency to leave thumb tacks on chairs for shits and giggles, he rather liked them both. Mick had taken a particular shining to Axel after he’d used a whoopee cushion on Len the whole second day they’d worked together. For all the grumbling and sarcastic comments he, Mick and Lisa doled out when it came to be human guinea pigs for the team, they all knew if they wanted out all Len needed to do was flash them out of the cortex before any of them could snap their fingers.

Anyhow, Hartley had already told Len to head home rather than patrol tonight, so he figured Mick might wind up sleeping over if his visions wore him out. Mick liked to grumble about being called back in to help the team, muttering that he had a  _job_  outside of vigilantism,  _you know_ , but he wasn’t good at hiding that small twitch of his lips every time one of the Labs’ team asked for his say.

For someone who had practically fallen over onto his ass laughing when Len had admitted his plans to go straight, a pun that earned him a swat to the shoulder from Lisa, Mick took to his own involvement with S.T.A.R. Labs rather well.

(Mick still smarted over the arguments they’d had soon after he joined the precinct, back when Len had been focused on the thrill of a heist every six months and Mick was the one who’d wanted out. Neither of them had spoken of it since, but the twinge in his gut every time Mick mentioned his work was more than enough of a reminder as to which one of them had stormed out of that apartment and who had sported a black eye.)

Then again, getting assaulted with visions of alternate timelines and things yet to come at the crack of dawn was hardly novel when your best friend could run faster than the speed of sound.

But still. 

He’d taken it better than Lisa had, at least. She was still worried about her older brother landing himself in jail one of these days thanks to his new job of not-quite-legal vigilantism.

Despite Len’s concerns about the two of them losing their jobs, both refused to let him work alone in the field. It was probably a fair decision, given his track record pre-lightning strike. As Lisa had put it, “Honestly, Lenny, if we’re going to be breaking the law, we might as well be helping you on your quest to save the city before you get yourself killed.” Finding out that she and Mick were, in fact, metahumans as well was just a perk.

Well, maybe  _perk_ was the wrong word.

Being able to phase through his apartment wall didn’t mean he couldn’t take precautions with locking up before he left, though. He knew all too well what kinds of people liked to frequent the neighborhood (Lisa’s less-than-subtle nagging about finding a new place to live suddenly began to itch at the back of his mind). Just because some of the thieves were kids down on their luck didn’t mean he could go easy on them.

Besides, he and Mick could handle thieves, no matter what  _Lisa_  said, but outing themselves to strangers as metahumans was still dangerous. People were far too ready to vilify anyone and everyone with superpowers these days.

A ghost of a grimace traced his face at the memory of the cops who’d tried to take him in when he was fighting off Bivolo’s control. 

(Lisa had had far too much fun icing him to the floor of the cortex that day. And Hartley and Axel collected  _far_ too many pictures “for research purposes”. Which reminded him - he needed to follow up on deleting those off their phones.)

Anyway.

The point was, there was no logical reason for his apartment door to be unlocked.

Len opened the door, sending a mental thank you to Mick for reminding him last week to oil the hinges. The lights were on only in the kitchen so he didn’t bother turning on any others. He shut the door behind him, letting it close soft and slow before he crept closer to the kitchen doorway.

The sound of cabinets being opened was almost jarring in the relative silence of his apartment. Whoever was here clearly knew very little about subtlety as a criminal. Coupled with the fact that Len could now hear  _humming_ coming from a few feet away, he was sure his intruder had no idea they were not alone.

Maybe it was one of those twins down the street - they were well-known for getting in trouble with the police and attempting to sneak into grocery stores for midnight snacks when they ran out of cash. It might be high time for the Flash to pay them a visit.

Len paused before the doorway, keeping to the wall as he listened. If they were looking for food, they’d hardly be in luck. He and Mick had skipped out on grocery shopping this week, and there was little much else besides bread and a few sandwich meats in the fridge. But by the sound of it, the thief was occupied with the other kitchen cabinets, like they were searching for plates or utensils instead.

He didn’t know whether they were armed but if it was just a kid... Len could probably talk them down. He didn’t need to worry about bullets these days, after all, and he too had been a sticky-fingered kid once.

Len stepped into the doorway - and promptly froze.

What the  _fuck_.

“You know,” Barry Allen said calmly, an all-too-familiar smirk crossing his face as he placed more turkey on his sandwich, “with that metabolism of yours, you’d think there’d be more to eat. Also, you’re out of milk.”

Len acted on instinct, flashing into the kitchen and pinning the other man against the fridge before he could blink, hands curled in his jacket collar. The turkey in his hands fell to the floor with a quiet splat and Barry frowned, not even raising his hands to defend himself from being shoved around.

“Whoa, someone’s touchy today.”

“ _What_ are you doing here?” Len growled.

“Seriously, I was just about to eat that. Unless you were planning a sandwich date with your sister before I got here?”

“ _Barry_.”

The sound of his name caused the frown to falter, giving him a glimpse of the thief’s barely concealed amusement. Barry shifted under his grip so his extra inch or so on Len was more noticeable, allowing him to lean over Len a little. Either that, or he was attempting to squeeze further into the space between them, which... was not a thought he was entertaining. At all.

“Somehow I thought you’d be happier to see me. Maybe I should’ve gone to Lisa.”

Len’s grip tightened. The thought of Barry knowing where his sister lived wasn’t comforting. “She would’ve turned you into an ice sculpture.”

Barry laughed. “Or pepper-sprayed me in the face. Not quite as fun, you’re right.”

“Why are you here?” Len repeated. His patience was dwindling.

“I was hungry.” He waved a hand toward the fallen turkey and the sandwich on the counter. He huffed at the disbelief written all over Len’s face. “Really! Lunch breaks are a thing, even when you’re a wanted criminal. Though I’m sure you know  _all_  about that.”

Len didn’t bother rising to the bait. “It’s dinner time.”

“Same difference.”

“How do you even know where I live?”

Barry sent him an unimpressed look. “All the kids around your building know a ‘Leonard Snart’. Your name’s kind of hard to forget.”

“Leave. I don’t have time for a social call.” Or whatever this was. Barry was never one to do things by the book, of course.

“Clearly, what with Vibe working late and your sister out on a date. Good for her, by the way, finally asking Shawna out. Cisco’ll be disappointed, though. I think he really liked her.”

“How do you know that?”

“What kind of nemesis would I be if I  _didn’t_  know thesethings?” Barry countered.

“You’re not my nemesis, kid. And I do believe that’s called stalking.” 

Barry actually pouted. “Guess I have to try harder, then.”

Len released his grip on Barry’s jacket but didn’t move away. Now that he took the time to look the other over, the absence of a certain Cold Gun pressing into his side (which he surely would’ve felt given the lack of space between them) was rather telling. And somewhat alarming, if Barry felt safe enough against a speedster in an apartment that wasn’t his to not need a Plan B.

Times like this, he was never sure whether Barry truly ever did have a backup plan or if he learned to bluff his way through every situation. Being on the run couldn’t have taught him much else. Not everyone was unfortunate enough to get thrown into the foster system and bounced around the shadier nooks and crannies of Central City by the time they were eighteen.

He was starting to regret not throwing Barry in prison the day they’d met, after the robbery gone wrong when the thief escaped and Mick looked him up in the prison records - or the day Barry cornered him in  _Saints and Sinners_  after learning Len’s name. Really, any day spent chasing down Barry Allen and his self-proclaimed “Rogues” ought to have been some indication that he should turn the other in.

Len had always been weak for pretty faces, though, and that day in  _Saints_ , sitting across the table from Barry for the first time face-to-face, watching him steal his fries as if they were best friends and not enemies...

Well, maybe  _enemies_  wasn’t the right word.

Criminal record aside, Barry wasn’t a bad kid. Unlike Len, who had been born into a life of crime before he had gotten himself and Lisa out of their father’s grasp, Barry had fallen into the wrong crowd. He was far more reasonable than the other criminals Len had faced, metahuman or not, and shared his distaste for mayhem in Central City.

And maybe it was wishful thinking (or, as Lisa put it, “thinking with your dick”) to hope that he could steer Barry back onto the right track, but Len was patient. Deep down, Barry Allen wasn’t a ruthless, carefree criminal, and he knew it. It was just going to take a little more time to show him that.

Breaking and entering wasn’t earning him any brownie points at the moment.

“So,” Barry said cheerfully, taking Len’s silence as a cue to start edging his way away from the fridge, “what kind of sandwich do you want? I’m finishing off the last of the turkey, sorry. Actually, scratch that: you can probably run out and get more.” He snorted and shook his head. “Perks of being a superhero, huh?”

Len blocked Barry’s path to the counter, holding up a hand. “If you think I’m going to let you eat all my food - ”

“One sandwich and the last of your milk is not ‘all your food’, Lenny.”

“Don’t call me that.”

Barry raised an eyebrow. “Someone’s definitely grumpy.”

“Only Lisa calls me that.” Len stooped to pick up the turkey on the floor. He could feel Barry’s eyes track his movement as he stood. Even with his show of confidence, it was nice to see Barry knew better than to let his guard down around him. “Do you not have food in any of your safehouses?”

“Ah, right. Len it is, then.” Barry sidestepped around him and this time Len allowed it, watching him take a seat at the counter. He pulled the plate with the turkey sandwich closer, either not noticing or not caring about the way Len grimaced as he took a bite and kept talking around his mouthful of food. “Cait’s on a new health craze, unfortunately. She’s been trying to get us to eat protein bars and drink these weird shakes for two weeks now. If I have to eat one more salad, I’m going to turn into a rabbit and shit all over her bed.”

Len’s lips twitched against his will. “That bad, huh?”

“She chased Cisco around the kitchen with the gold gun yesterday because he refused to drink his kale shake.” Barry shuddered at the memory. “I love Caitlin, but if she keeps this up Cisco and I are going on strike. If we’re not gilded to the floor first.”

“Inspiring.”

“Glad you think so. You have no idea how much I’ve missed junk food, man. I’m definitely stocking up on candy before I head back.”

Len leaned against the counter beside the thief. Even with his super speed, Barry Allen managed to swallow half his sandwich faster than Len could say “Captain Cold”. It felt a little like watching a black hole consume everything in sight.

Len probably shouldn’t have been this fascinated by a man who’d broken into his apartment and begun eating his food - and certainly not by a baby-faced criminal who seemed to have taken a shining to him.

“You could’ve just gone to McDonald’s,” he pointed out, a little uselessly now that Barry was already finishing off his turkey sandwich.

Barry sent him a look of pure horror. “Over Big Belly Burger? No way! Besides, this sandwich is much better than a burger, and I needed to talk to you anyway.”

Ah. There was the catch. Len crossed his arms over his chest. “What do you want?”

“Aw, and you were just starting to enjoy yourself.”

“You can’t say that and not follow through on an explanation.”

For the first time that night, Barry’s expression darkened. Seeing him sober up, gulping down the last chunk of bread, was unnerving. Barry was rarely serious, even when they fought against each other. The last, and only, time he’d seen this look was when they’d arrested Cisco to interrogate him about the Rogues’ guns - and that was soon after they first met.

“I heard you’ve been facing a new metahuman,” Barry said, wiping his mouth. “Yellow suit, has powers like yours, red glowing eyes?”

“Keeping up to date on crime in Central City, I see.”

“Someone has to. What else do you know about the Man in Yellow?”

“Are you really that upset about the nemesis comment?” Len teased.

“He killed my parents when I was eleven.”

Len’s stomach twisted. Barry didn’t look away, holding his gaze despite the cold fury he recognized behind green eyes.

“I came downstairs one night and there was a tornado in our living room. My dad was trying to reach my mom through the storm – a lightning storm of red and yellow, just like yours – and they yelled at me to run. I couldn’t move, I was frozen to the floor.” A distant look flickered across his features, as if he were reliving the murder all over again. “I watched him stab them both through the heart before I found myself standing in the front yard, listening to the police sirens getting closer by the minute. By the time they arrived, it was too late.

“No one, not even my best friend, believed me when I tried to explain what happened. None of the homes, none of my foster families - hell, even Cisco and Caitlin thought I was crazy until the Particle Accelerator went off! He’s why I came after you initially, asked Cisco to make me the gun.” Barry chuckled, a sound so hollow and unlike his usual laugh that Len immediately wished he hadn’t made it in the first place.  Stone cold anger was an unwelcome look on Barry. “I knew he wasn’t you but... You were proof he existed. That I wasn’t wrong and he’s  _real_ and  _out there_.”

“What do you want?” He didn’t intend for his voice to soften, to sound so concerned, but memories of running with Lisa to her mother’s house, of calling the police on Lewis even when no one believed them, swam in the forefront of his mind. He wondered if he’d have stayed a thief himself had he not rescued himself and his sister that night, stayed in bed when Lewis came home drunk off his ass for the umpteenth time.

He knew what it was like to feel helpless, like the whole world was against you.

“I want to take him down.”

Len sighed. “Barry - ”

“If you say it’s dangerous or I’m just a kid, I’ll walk out that door right now,” Barry warned. “We can make a deal or whatever, I don’t care. You have S.T.A.R. Labs, I know, but none of you have gone against the Man in Yellow before and my gun slows you down just fine. What’s to say it won’t work on him too?”

“We’re not killing him.”

Barry’s jaw clenched. “He  _murdered_  my parents in front of me, like  _hell_  am I sitting on my ass - !”

“I never said you couldn’t help,” Len said patiently. “As much as I sympathize with your idea of revenge, though, it’d be smarter to keep him alive until we know what he does. We already think he’s been spying on us, or me at the very least, and I, for one, want some answers. Once we’re through with him, we’ll discuss what to do with him.”

Barry eyed him warily, his brow furrowing the longer he stared. Len got the sense he was being sized up.

He meant what he said: in the few times the speedster had shown himself to Len, he’d called Len by name and rattled off information no stranger or wannabe copycat could’ve known about Lisa, and Mick, and even Lewis. Len had checked their places for cameras and found at least eight in each, including in Shawna, Axel and Hartley’s homes. If this Reverse-Flash (he was already growing tired of hearing that name, even if it was better than the “Yellow Flash” Axel had come up with at the beginning) knew things about them all, they needed to interrogate him first, not set off on a warpath like Barry wanted. Not to mention the fact that the idea of Barry doing just that made his chest tighten.

Some of the fire faded from Barry’s eyes after a couple moments. “You’re letting me help? Just like that?”

“Believe it or not, but I like you, kid. I can’t say I mind having Captain Cold offer his services for a team-up, even if it’s for selfish reasons.”

“You’d make a great supervillain, you know,” Barry told him. His shoulders began to relax. Len hadn’t even realized how tense the other was, how scared he was of being turned down.

“Nice try.”

“I’m serious! With your speed - ”

“Stealing gets old when you’re too quick to stop,” Len cut in. He’d already been tempted by that thought more than once before he’d started this superhero business.

Barry heaved a sigh, as if Len were a puzzle he couldn’t solve and he was at his wit’s end. It was overdramatic enough that he found himself starting to smile again. 

Damn the kid. Apparently, vigilantism was turning him soft.

“Your loss. Though I guess it’s for the best. I wouldn’t be able to work if I had to watch your ass every day.”

Len moved away from the counter, heading for the fridge. Might as well eat if Barry insisted on keeping him company. “Tragic, truly. I’m sure Ramon’s will have to keep you occupied ‘til that day comes.”

“Now _you’re_ the ass here.”

If he laughed at Barry’s whining...well, neither Mick nor Lisa were around to tease him about it, or berate him about thoughtless decisions. He might as well enjoy this partnership while it lasted - even if it came back to bite him in the ass.

Who was he kidding? Lisa was never going to let him hear the end of this.

**Author's Note:**

> Come scream with me on my DCTV Tumblr @areyouscarletcold. Comments are always appreciated, and have a great day!


End file.
